The Significant Earthquake Database contains information on
destructive earthquakes from 2150 B.C. to the present that meet at least
one of the following criteria: Moderate damage (approximately $1 million
or more), 10 or more deaths, Magnitude 7.5 or greater, Modified Mercalli
Intensity X or greater, or the earthquake generated a tsunami. The
database can also be displayed and extracted with the Natural Hazards
Interactive Map.
Below we are listing a short summary of our main variables. At the
primary and secondary deaths and damages where available the total
numbers have been added to the dataset, in the “description” field the
variables have already been clustered.
Regional boundaries defined as follows:
150 - North America and Hawaii: (Canada, Mexico, USA)
100 - Central America: (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Panama)
90 - Caribbean: (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican
Republic, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica,
Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands)
160 - South America: (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela)
70 - Atlantic Ocean
15 - Northern Africa: (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan,
Tunisia)
10 - Central, Western and S. Africa: (Burundi, Cameroon, Canary
Islands, Central African Republic, Congo, Coite DIvoire, Ethiopia,
Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone,
South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia)
20 - Antarctica
120 - Northern and Western Europe: (Austria, Belgium, France,
Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom)
130 - Southern Europe: (Azores (Portugal), Black Sea,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal,
Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain)
110 - Eastern Europe: (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Ukraine)
140 - Middle East: (Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi
Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen)
40 - Central Asia and Caucasus: (Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Black Sea, Western China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia,
Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)
30 - East Asia: (Eastern China, East China Sea, Japan, Japan Sea,
North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Yellow Sea)
60 - S. and SE. Asia and Indian Ocean: (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Indian Ocean, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Vietnam)
170 - Central and South Pacific: (Australia, Caroline Islands,
Celebes Sea, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Indonesia,
Kermadec Islands (New Zealand), Kiribati, Malaysia, Rep. of Marshall
Islands, Fed. States of Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Northern
Mariana Islands, Pacific Ocean, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa,
Solomon Islands, Solomon sea, South china sea, South Georgia and the
South Sandwich Islands, Tasman Sea, Timor Sea, Tonga, Vanuatu)
80 - Bering Sea
50 - Kamchatka and Kuril Islands
Description of Deaths from the Earthquake
[Death.Description]
Valid values: 0 to 4
When a description was found in the historical literature instead of
an actual number of deaths, this value was coded and listed in the
Deaths column. If the actual number of deaths was listed, a descriptor
was also added for search purposes.
0 None
1 Few (~1 to 50 deaths)
2 Some (~51 to 100 deaths)
3 Many (~101 to 1000 deaths)
4 Very many (over 1000 deaths)
Description of Damage from the Earthquake
[Damage.Description]
Valid values: 0 to 4
For those events not offering a monetary evaluation of damage, the
following five-level scale was used to classify damage (1990 dollars)
and was listed in the Damage column. If the actual dollar amount of
damage was listed, a descriptor was also added for search purposes.
0 NONE
1 LIMITED (roughly corresponding to less than $1 million)
2 MODERATE (~$1 to $5 million)
3 SEVERE (~$5 to $25 million)
4 EXTREME (~$25 million or more)
[Missing.Description]
[Injuries.Description]
[Houses.Destroyed.Description]
[Houses.Damaged.Description]
